A Tiny Taste
by Rio Kamishiro
Summary: Rated M for language. Left home alone one day, Yuma suddenly gets a letter from the Arclight's, saying how they've been doing better... but then, how does that explain the sudden visit IV pays Yuma, looking depressed?


It was early morning and for Yuma, he was already up and ready to check the mail. As he yawned, he looked in the mailbox. "Not here yet..?!" He whined.

"I didn't know you cared about getting the mail, Yuma."

"Huh? Oh, I normally don't, but… Nee-chan told me to get it since she would be out today."

Waiting some more, Yuma recalled what happened the day before… his duel with Kaito ended in a loss, but he was satisfied with it. It was worth some good since he was able to help him through his 'funk'.

Finally, as he was waiting, the peculiar mailman came riding by and Yuma ran right in front of him.

"HEY! Stop, any letters for 'Tsukumo' in there?"

"Tsukumo… Tsukumo… One. Here you go." He replied, handing over the letter.

Staring at the letter for a moment, Yuma began to walk towards the house. "One letter?! I got up this early for _one_ letter to be brought?" Astral took a peek at the letter and saw who it was from…

"That name… 'Arclight'. Was that not the last name for III, IV, and V? "

"Huh?" Yuma took a closer look and saw that it was. "You're right! What… why did _we_ get a letter from _them_? I never even got to see III again after what happened…"

Astral looked around and thought about the Arclights… he wondered why they would bother sending a letter. It could have been just to thank Yuma, but he was still leery. "Let's go inside and see, Yuma." After a quick nod, Yuma ran inside his house.

Opening the letter swiftly, he wasted no time in reading the letter. Inside, it read;

_Hello Yuma,_

_We really can't thank you enough for what you did, it means the world to us. Even though our father is not exactly as he used to be, he is close enough and we of course still love him just as much. We've been doing fine and we hope you're just as well. Perhaps we can meet again sometime soon and talk to each other more… this time without any worries._

_Thank you,_

_Chris, Thomas, and Mihael_

"…" Getting to the end of the letter, Yuma became confused. "Um… 'Chris', 'Thomas', and 'Mihael'? I think I know Chris, but… Wait, are those III and IV's real names?!"

Astral face palmed at Yuma's complete stupidity. "Yuma… of course, what else would they be? Honestly…"

Still surprised to even get a letter from them, he sat down. "So… they seem to be getting happier. I'm glad, their family… the broken pieces are finally being put back together."

"That was oddly poetic for you to say, Yuma."

"Shut up!"

Stretching and getting back up, it was early and the young duelist wasn't quite sure what to do now. Until… he heard his doorbell ring.

"Oh, is Nee-chan back home already..?" He questioned, as he began to open the door. "Yeah-"

Opening the door, he was astonished to find someone he didn't expect to see quite so soon… IV. Backing away from the door, he recalled the first time he ever saw IV… cruelly dueling both Tetsuo and Takashi.

IV merely glared at Yuma for a second with his vibrant, pink eyes. After a moments stare off, he pushed Yuma and went right inside his house, not saying a word. Walking towards Yuma's couch, he sat on it whilst remaining completely silent.

"Wha… What the hell are you doing?! How did you… why are you here?!" Yuma shouted while leaning over the couch, trying to get a look at IV.

"Yuma… Is it just me, or does IV seem different from the last time we saw him?"

"Different?" He questioned, still looking at IV. "I remember last time I saw him… he was pretty depressed about Tron and stuff, right?"

All of a sudden, a slight twitch came from the Asian Duel Champion after hearing 'Tron'. "Shut the hell up about that, you have no idea about anything!" IV quickly shouted back.

Taken aback to suddenly hear IV speak up, Yuma merely stood back for a moment. "Um… IV, did something happen with Tron again?" Not quite sure why he was acting friendly with IV, he couldn't help but act that way after seeing hearing IV's reasoning back at the Magma Field for his ways of dueling.

"Aren't you just the psychiatrist? I'm not telling you anything, it's not important anyway." He countered back.

Yuma looked at Astral and Astral stared back at him. Both were at a loss for words and didn't quite know what to tell IV right now. Being friendly couldn't hurt though, since none of them were exactly on 'bad terms' anymore.

"Uh… well, since you're here, you might as well tell me why you came to _MY_ house of all places… It just seems so random." Scratching his head, Yuma continued. "Er… But I'm guessing this _does_ have to do with Tron?"

With a look of 'are you for real' IV intently looked at Yuma. "No shit it has to do with Tron, as if he doesn't cause me an endless spat of worries…" He mumbled to himself, but loud enough so Yuma could hear. "H-hey, why are you being so sassy today, anyway? First you barge into my house and now you act this way towards me!" Yuma retorted.

Rolling his eyes, IV quickly got up and walked towards Yuma. Not expecting him to suddenly get up like that, Yuma slightly went backwards. Suddenly, IV grasped Yuma's hand and began to forcibly pull him up the stairs to Yuma's own room. After making it in there, IV climbed up to Yuma's 'attic'. Puzzled, the boy with red and black hair didn't exactly know what IV was up to. "Um. Astral, what was that about..?" Astral merely shrugged. "No idea. Perhaps you should go see what he's up to in there."

Cautiously climbing up, he saw the back of IV, sitting down and holding something. As he took a closer look, he saw IV holding a photo of Kazuma and Mirai, Yuma's parents.

"IV..? You..." IV jolted up slightly and turned around, glaring at Yuma. After another stare off, he looked at the photo again, almost longingly. "Are they dead?"

Yuma didn't like the way IV just asked that. He was intending to answer his question, but he was a bit astonished that IV didn't know about what happened to Kazuma… he figured that if he heard what happened to Byron, then he'd know Kazuma was also there. Either way, his answer would stay the same… "My dad is… missing. In the Astral world. As for my mom, she's…" He paused. "Why are you asking this, IV?" He asked.

"Huh. That's depressing." IV bluntly said back. He put the picture down and sat in silence for a moment. Yuma gawked at IV, wondering what could be going through his head. "I bet you got along with your parents. Didn't you." His face not visible, he looked down.

"What," Yuma stopped, wondering what IV was playing at. "Are you trying to get some kind of information out of me or something..?" It was unusual to see IV act this way, so he assumed there was some kind of motive… even though any kind of motive would have been pointless since their revenge was almost exacted anyway.

"Listen, you… So is that all you think of me? That I'm some back-stabbing bitch who only gets close to people in order to obtain something?" Yuma was surprised from IV's hot-tempered reaction. And it all seemed true, that honestly _was_ what he thought of him… but IV was telling him different. "Don't talk to me like you know me."

A bit insulted from IV's constant barrage of foul, offensive words used towards him, he wasn't going to sit back and just quietly listen to it. "You aren't exactly convincing me otherwise right now, IV! You want me to not think of you that way?! Then prove it to me! Actions speak louder than words, is that not the expression?" Yuma confidently shouted out, not caring if anyone else in the house would hear.

IV swiftly grabbed Yuma's hand again and dragged him down out of his 'attic' part of the room and then out the door of his regular room. Quickly taking him down the stairs, he went out the door of the house and slammed it shut. "Okay. Follow me; I'll give you an extra special taste of my best fanservice!"

Puzzled, Yuma wasn't sure what he meant. "Do you mean you'll duel me?!" He said, with an excited gleam in his eyes.

"Certainly not. You, me. Date. Now." IV said, with a delighted smile on his face. "Date~?! What the hell are you spouting now, IV?" Yuma said, with a look of slight pouting.

"Exactly as it sounds... come along!"


End file.
